


Stress Relief

by alliebird58



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-05 03:46:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5359919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliebird58/pseuds/alliebird58
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Lord Macintosh helps his queen relieve some stress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stress Relief

**Author's Note:**

> There is basically zero plot, just some UST and a sprinkle of fluff. Probably sucks because wow am I bad at writing kisses, but hey practice makes perfect and all of that. 
> 
> Funny note, I wrote this the night before I had to give a psychology presentation on stress. A tad bit of irony. I did really well on the presentation, at least!

Being queen was a stressful, time consuming, pain in the arse job that never ended, Merida grumbled to herself one night. She was locked up in her private study, reading over missives from different nations wanting to work out trade agreements with the small country. She had spent the better part of the evening scanning through them; the candles on her desk were burning low and she had long since sent her ladies maid to bed, saying she could take care of herself for one night. The price of being a queen, so it seemed. It was at times like these where she wished she had someone to help her shoulder the burden of ruling; to have a companion on the long, unending nights where she would be lucky if she saw her bed for more than a few hours.

She was so entangled in her reading, that when she heard a sharp knock at the door, she was startled into such a state that she nearly threw the letter she was holding. “Enter,” she murmured, vaguely wondering who was still up at this hour of the evening.

The door creaked open, and standing there was the Lord Macintosh. He let himself into the room quietly, and made his way over to the desk she occupied, currently covered in letters and papers and half thought out notes to herself. She was barely paying any attention to him, and probably would have kept ignoring him, had he not plucked the paper she was reading right out of her hands.

“Mac! What in the world are ye doin’? Give me that back ye blasted fool,” she grabbed for the paper dangling from his hands, only to have him lift it ever so slightly higher, just out of her reach.

“Milady, is near dead of night, ye need to go to sleep.” He whispered to her quietly, concern lacing through his words. She simply sighed and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes slightly.

“I can’t though, I need to get these read for tomorrow so we can discuss them at the council meeting,” she made another grab to get her paper back, only to have Mac throw the paper across the room, and she made a small growl of frustration.

“Merida do ye even remember what you were readin’?” he questioned, and she paused, only to realize she hadn’t a damn clue what the letter had said. She groaned at herself and slammed her head onto the table in defeat.

“Better yet, do ye remember the last night ye had more than a few hours of sleep?” She heard him question further, and this time the distinctive edge of anger had crept into his voice. Merida just kept her head on the desk, thinking that if she stayed silent for long enough, he might just give up and walk away. She should have known better than to be that wishful.

Instead of making a retreat, she suddenly felt a pair of large hands working across her shoulders, and she twisted around to glare at Macintosh. “What in the blazes do ye think you’re doin’?” He chuckled slightly, and turned her gently by the shoulders so she was facing forward again.

“You work too hard, my queen. I am merely offerin’ my services to help you relax.” He stated simply as he continued slowly working the knots out of her shoulders. Though she should have protested much more than she did, his hands moving over her back felt absolutely divine, and she felt her eyes drift shut in appreciation. Merida would never admit it out loud, but whenever he touched her, be it a brief touch to the shoulder, a kiss to her hand, or brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face, she automatically felt herself relax. It was like just being in his presence soothed her soul a bit.

Merida felt his hands works over a particularly sore patch of muscles in her neck, and she couldn’t stop the low groan that slipped from her throat.

“Everythin’ all right, my queen,” she heard him whisper into her ear, his breath sweeping down her neck, raising goosepimples along the flesh. Though she recognized the teasing in his tone, there was something else she couldn’t place, and it made her stomach flip and her toes curl. Merida jerked herself free of his hands, quickly rising and taking a few long steps away from her desk, breathing deeply, trying to gain back some of her focus.

“Aye, I’m just fine Mac. Thanks for the, uh, the….yea, well ye best be off now so I can get back to me readin’, don’t want to be awake all night.” Merida busied herself with locating the papers he had thrown away from her earlier, refusing to meet his gaze. But then he was standing right in front of her, and she made the stupid, stupid mistake of looking up at him.

She wasn’t sure if it was just the low burning candlelight reflecting in his eyes, casting shadows on his face, but when their eyes locked, Merida felt the air in her lungs whoosh out of her body in one long breath. Her stomach heaved and it was like someone had ignited liquid fire to burn through her veins. She wondered for a split second if she was imagining things, her mind playing tricks on her, because she swore she saw a flash of desire cross his face, but it was gone quick as it came. It was just enough to give Merida pause, before he was pulling her to his body, his lips finding hers in an instant.

The kiss was soft and simple to begin with, just a brush of lips, really. But then it was like a switch being flipped and it suddenly turned to something much harder; she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, as he wrapped his arms firmly around her waist, keeping her body curved against his own. It was hot and heavy and the fire that had started in her veins threatened to completely engulf her. One of his hands moved to wind through her hair, holding the side of her head, using the angle to press the kiss deeper, and then his mouth was doing something magical where his teeth pulled at her bottom lip and gods where had he learned that and she thought she might just die right then and there because everything was so, so good and just a bit too much.

And then they were both breaking apart, breath coming furiously, staring at each other in the low flickering light of the room. All at once there was too much to say, but nothing either of them could say. So instead, Macintosh pressed a burning trail of kisses all the way from just below her chin, down her neck, stopping every so often to nip gently, and by the time he had reached her clavicle, Merida was breathing heavier still, and she felt a moan being pulled from deep within her chest. She hauled his face back towards her own, catching his mouth, and apparently surprising him, if the low growl she felt make its way through his body was any indication. And that’s how they stayed - it could have been hours, for all they knew; a back and forth, push and pull, of teeth and tongues against each other, hot and burning. Merida knew that no matter what happened between the two of them from this point forward, she was ruined for anybody else.

Merida thought she could have stayed in that one place, with his arms wrapped around her securely, all night. But when they finally separated, his forehead pressed against her own, she could feel the weight of the entire day work its way through her bones, weariness chasing out the fire, snuffing the flames of desire. Then it was everything she could do to just keep her eyes open. She tried to take a step backward, only to stumble on something that might have very well been her own feet. Macintosh caught her deftly, and without a word swung her up into his arms. Merida threaded her arms around his neck, leaning her head against his shoulder, as he quietly carried her through the side door of the study into her bed chambers. He laid her gently across the bed, and she followed his movements as he walked over to her wardrobe, opening it and searching briefly until he returned with one of her sleeping gowns. He handed it to her wordlessly, and turned his back so she could change. Merida quickly slipped out of her dress into her nightgown, reaching for his arm when she was done.

Mac was by her side in an instant, pressing her back into the bed and pulling the heavy comforter over her body. He was about to walk away when Merida reached for his hand once again. “Will ye stay, just for a mo’?” She asked groggily, and without answer he made his way to the other side of the bed and pulled up beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and guiding her head to his chest. She took a steadying breath, breathing in a scent that was distinctly him - earth and musk and something delightfully male. Merida found herself snuggling further into his embrace, and she couldn’t be sure, but just before she finally gave herself over to sleep, she swore she felt the brush of his lips against her forehead, and a soft voice murmuring, “sleep well, my love.”

 

When Merida woke the next morning, it was to an empty bed, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed (though a larger part of her was relieved; at least one of them had been thinking about how such a scene would look to the outside world, the queen’s advisor leaving her bed chambers in the early hours of the morning). She glanced over to the table that sat at the side of her bed, and saw a small piece of paper sitting there. Merida grabbed the scrap of paper, blinking a few times to focus her eyes. Then she saw, scrawled in messy handwriting that was all too familiar, a message saying “you are breathtaking, my queen” and she felt her heart glow. Maybe finding someone to share her long nights wasn’t going to be as difficult as she thought.


End file.
